" Some Republicans Fear Tea Party Becoming a Third Party "

[Novaheart]

If anyone leaves it'll be the RINO's and Elites in the party and most likely go over to the Dems

I think you are trying to convince yourself that the GOP is more right wing than it actually is. If the NYT poll is close, the 18% of the population would be in the Tea Party zone, meaning that about 36% of the GOP is in that zone. So 60% would reasonably be thought to be more centrist if we allow 4% to be way out in the far right.

[Novaheart]

I'm the majority of them make the jump and do it soon...sick of them trying to undermined progress and undermined the party all together

What are you going to do with a small third party in a primarily two party country? At 18% the Tea Party is outnumbered both by mainstream Republicans and mainstream Democrats.

[Molon Labe]

While there definitely is some truth to that, we simply cannot risk splitting the vote this time around. The opportunity to oust Obama is too great to allow internal differences to split the vote and put him back in for another disastrous four years.

Both the old guard GOP and the TEA partiers are going to have to have a little bit of give here to find someone who may not be quite so ideologically pure as either would like, but can still be acceptable and will beat Obama. Obama is incredibly beatable right now, and that's not likely to change, so there's no good reason to throw away the opportunity.

Why not? In other words, if there arrises the opportunity to elect a Romney, then you've "gained" nothing. You've elected another dyed in the wool liberal in Republican clothing. The disaster that is Obama will then continue...cept then it will be a Republican that gets the blame for the crash. Better to have a liberal in charge when the whole mess crashes around in my opinion. Otherwise, it's another squandered opportunity in order for people to have warm fuzzies because there's an "R" in the White House? Yay..we beat Obama.

If all we are into is "winning" elections, then just go for the most electible candidate. This isn't a football game to me.

The tea party is energized. It is not perfect, but it is on the right path, and presently it has the moral high ground and minorities are finally seeing this. I am finally seeing changes in the makeup of the Republican party with regards to breaking down the stereotypes of the "white" party. This is not a time to be be too overly concerned with making peace with the ones that have set back conservatism just to get a check in the win column. Real change as opposed to Obama change takes time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd71TEn5E6o

You would not see anything like this at a Romney or Gingrich or Palin rally.

[txradioguy]

What are you going to do with a small third party in a primarily two party country? At 18% the Tea Party is outnumbered both by mainstream Republicans and mainstream Democrats.

IMHO the Tea party represents the majority of Republican voters...so I think you'd end up with the bulk of the Republican voters moving to the Tea Party and leaving the GOP filled with nothing but RINO's and party elites and in third place as the minority party.

[Novaheart]

IMHO the Tea party represents the majority of Republican voters...so I think you'd end up with the bulk of the Republican voters moving to the Tea Party and leaving the GOP filled with nothing but RINO's and party elites and in third place as the minority party.

Your view from your window does not agree with the polls, nor the turn out.

[txradioguy]

Your view from your window does not agree with the polls, nor the turn out.

No one gave Conservative Republican a.k.a. "Tea Party" candidates a chance in the 2010 midterms yet look what happened.

Just because someone doesn't go around wearing a large banner that says "I support the Tea Party"...doesn't mean they don't identify with what they stand for and vote for candidates who believe the same way.

[Molon Labe]

Whenever I hear talk about how wonderful our 2 party system is and that we must win within the Republican party, I think of what George Carlin says in the first few minutes of this interview. You really don't have much choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt49DsfKDMc

[lacarnut]

Why not? In other words, if there arrises the opportunity to elect a Romney, then you've "gained" nothing. You've elected another dyed in the wool liberal in Republican clothing. The disaster that is Obama will then continue...cept then it will be a Republican that gets the blame for the crash. Better to have a liberal in charge when the whole mess crashes around in my opinion. Otherwise, it's another squandered opportunity in order for people to have warm fuzzies because there's an "R" in the White House? Yay..we beat Obama.

If all we are into is "winning" elections, then just go for the most electible candidate. This isn't a football game to me.

The tea party is energized. It is not perfect, but it is on the right path, and presently it has the moral high ground and minorities are finally seeing this. I am finally seeing changes in the makeup of the Republican party with regards to breaking down the stereotypes of the "white" party. This is not a time to be be too overly concerned with making peace with the ones that have set back conservatism just to get a check in the win column. Real change as opposed to Obama change takes time.

Good post. A RINO in the W.H. will be an extension of Bush/Obama policies with a little tweaking and trimming here and there. Not what is needed to turn our economy, debt and job outlook around.

[fettpett]

I think you are trying to convince yourself that the GOP is more right wing than it actually is. If the NYT poll is close, the 18% of the population would be in the Tea Party zone, meaning that about 36% of the GOP is in that zone. So 60% would reasonably be thought to be more centrist if we allow 4% to be way out in the far right.

What are you going to do with a small third party in a primarily two party country? At 18% the Tea Party is outnumbered both by mainstream Republicans and mainstream Democrats.

More people identify with what the TEA party stands for than what the extremely biased NYT (and I mean the paper in general) poll would even dream of.

and You didn't ream my posts, I said that I would rather the RINO's and Elites in the party left, the Liberal Republican's, not the guys that are just a tad to the center, but the guys that are die hard libs like Olympia Snow that vote with the Dems more often than not

[AmPat]

Why not? In other words, if there arrises the opportunity to elect a Romney, then you've "gained" nothing. You've elected another dyed in the wool liberal in Republican clothing.

If all we are into is "winning" elections, then just go for the most electible candidate. This isn't a football game to me.

You would not see anything like this at a Romney or Gingrich or Palin rally.

I disagree. I did a search for "palin-tea party rallys" and came up with many hits linking her and tea party rallys.
God forbid we elect Gingrich or Romney. These are the very turds who are tainted with cronyism and DC politics runs deep in their systems. They need to go. Once we have a primary winner, I will support that candidate against O Blah Blah no matter how bad he or she may be.

I believe that if we get a true conservative in the Tea Party and the GOP pushes a RINO, the registered GOPers will flock to the true conservative.